Feb 22, 2010 | News
The ICJ today deplored the decision of the US Justice Department to clear the legal architects of the US torture policy from any professional misconduct.
The decision by Associate Deputy Attorney General (ADAG) David Margolis reversed the July 2009 findings of the Office of Professional Conduct (OPR) that Bush administration legal advisers John Yoo and Jay Bybee had engaged in professional misconduct by giving advice which approved as lawful the program of “enhanced interrogation”. This program consisted in clear acts of torture and ill treatment.
The OPR had been poised to refer Yoo and Bybee, who is presently a US federal judge, for disciplinary action by the state regulatory authorities. The ADAG report, while affirming that the legal advisers had exercised ‘poor judgement’, determined that they had not breached rules of misconduct because it could not be established that they had intended to give misleading advise.
USA-torture serious crime-press release-2010 (full text, PDF)
Photo by acameronhuff
Jan 28, 2010
Editorial by ICJ President, Mary Robinson on the death of ICJ former Secretary General.
Dec 2, 2009 | News
The ICJ yesterday briefed the members of the UN Security Council on the impact of counter-terrorism policies on human rights and on ways to re-affirm and integrate human rights into the UN.
UN-integrate human rights in counter-terrorism-web story-2009 (full text, PDF)
Nov 1, 2009
Report of a Mission of Observers to observe the appeal trial hearing of Evgeniy Zhovtis, a lawyer and one of Kazakhstan’s leading human rights defenders.
The ICJ decided to send a Mission of Observers to observe the appeal trial hearing of Evgeniy Zhovtis, a lawyer and one of Kazakhstan’s leading human rights defenders, having received reports that his initial trial had failed to meet international fair trial standards. Mr. Zhovtis was convicted for unintentional manslaughter following a car accident in July 2009. The present Report gives an account of the process, in which Evgeniy Zhovtis himself was not allowed to participate. It describes the conduct of the trial and makes legal assessment of certain particularly problematic issues. The report does not aim to replace the court minutes, which were not kept in this case, but rather gives an overall assessment of the hearing as well as some events taking place outside the courtroom. The legal analysis is based on internationally recognised standards relating to fair trial guarantees, including the jurisprudence of major human rights bodies. The observers would like to express their gratitude to all the parties to the proceedings who facilitated the observation process.
Kazakhstan-appeal hearing Zhovtis-trial observation report-2009-eng
Kazakhstan-appeal hearing Zhovtis-trial observation report-2009-rus
Oct 23, 2009 | Advocacy, Analysis briefs
In this brief, ICJ Commissioner Justice Ian Binnie (photo) describes the progress that has been made – and remains to be made – in developing an acceptable legal liability framework for corporate human rights violations.
In particular, Justice Binnie cites the ICJ’s Expert Panel Report on Corporate Complicity and the SRSG John Ruggie’s framework of “Protect, Respect, and Remedy,” as important advances in defining this framework.
He urges the greater development and use of both criminal and civil theories of liability for holding corporations accountable for violations.
He also calls for victims who have exhausted all local remedies to have access to an international body such as the International Criminal Court.
legalremedies-businessHR-analysis brief-2009 (full text, PDF)
